Forever New completes global eCommerce move to Shopify

Forever New has completed a global eCommerce migration from Magento to Shopify across Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Canada.

The Australian fashion retailer completed the nine-month project with Convert Digital, replacing a platform setup that had been in place for more than a decade. The change comes as the Melbourne-founded womenswear business marks its 20th anniversary.

Forever New operates almost 400 stores and concessions across more than 25 countries. It launched its first eCommerce site on Magento 1 before later rebuilding on Magento 2, but the system had become less suited to a multi-region operation.

One reason for the move was the time required to make routine digital changes. Internal teams had also been requesting functions already available as standard in Shopify.

Robert Lupone, Chief Information Officer at Forever New, outlined the scale of the programme and the internal effort behind it.

"After more than a decade on Adobe (Magento), there was a strong desire across the business to embark on an eCommerce transformation. Our goal was to elevate our brand, simplify our technology stack and enable speed to market with new features for our customers. Delivering this in nine months across four markets, while ensuring an uninterrupted and improved omni-experience across eCommerce and our retail environment, was both challenging and rewarding.

This was a significant effort by the Forever New technology and business teams, Convert Digital as our partner, and Shopify. I congratulate everyone involved for delivering a successful transformation on time and on budget. Forever New has now standardised its global eCommerce offering on Shopify, with the US, India and South Africa migrated earlier in 2026 and the Middle East under way. This standardisation creates internal synergies and efficiencies, allowing greater focus on providing customers with the best possible experience and offering," said Robert Lupone, Chief Information Officer at Forever New.

Integration focus

The migration focused less on adding a long list of new customer-facing features and more on preserving the existing shopping experience while rebuilding the underlying systems. The most complex part of the work was the integration layer linking eCommerce operations to enterprise software used across the business.

This included connections to the retailer's ERP, warehouse management, search and merchandising systems. Forever New adopted a composable commerce model, using Shopify's built-in tools where possible and adding specialist providers for other functions.

Those third-party systems cover returns, personalisation and marketing automation, search and merchandising, checkout optimisation, sizing, product feed management and privacy compliance. Custom development was limited to areas viewed as distinctive to the Forever New customer experience.

Andrew Waite, Chief Executive Officer and Founder at Convert Digital, said the delivery model relied on close collaboration between the retailer and its agency partner.

"From the outset, collaboration was a top priority and shaped how our teams worked together. We integrated directly into Forever New's systems, giving stakeholders visibility of the platform as it came to life in real time, while joint showcases at Forever New's offices brought the wider business along at every stage. We also worked closely with the team to build internal capability and set the business up for long-term success beyond launch," said Andrew Waite, Chief Executive Officer and Founder at Convert Digital.

Wider retail trend

The project reflects a broader pattern in retail technology, with merchants reassessing older eCommerce platforms as they try to reduce complexity across markets. For multi-country retailers, the appeal of a more standardised system often lies in cutting development time, reducing duplicated work and making it easier to roll out changes across regions.

In Forever New's case, the shift also creates a single global eCommerce setup across several markets. Earlier migrations had already taken place in the US, India and South Africa, while work in the Middle East is under way.

Shopify's enterprise team described the migration as a foundation for further international expansion. James Johnson, Head of Enterprise ANZ at Shopify, said the retailer now had a modern platform in place for the next phase of its development.

"Forever New is an iconic Australian brand with a strong following, and this move to Shopify gives it a modern foundation for the next stage of growth. With a scalable platform that keeps the customer experience front and centre, Forever New now has room to innovate and move quickly while expanding across markets," said James Johnson, Head of Enterprise ANZ at Shopify.